Why kimbo slice does belong in the UFC

As expected, the UFC debut of Kimbo Slice drew a huge audience. With the beating of Houston Alexander, a dangerous fighter with an impressive resume, it can easily be seen as a coming-out party for Kimbo. Others, however, see this as just another example of the UFC leaning toward sports entertainment, and not simply a sport. Although I’m not really sold on Kimbo being a legit force at any weight class, I think the popular belief that he impedes the progress of MMA rising to legitimacy is merely exaggeration. There are, however, a few things about the setup that were unfair to the rest of the fighters on The Ultimate Fighter. I didn’t like seeing Kimbo (who got eliminated in the first round) get a special catchweight fight on the main card, while the more skilled TUF fighter Justin Wren settled for the undercard. The only other TUF contestants on the main card were Marcus Jones and Matt Mitrione, which was mainly due to the hyped “bad blood” they had towards the end of the season. All that aside, I can see the UFC’s reasoning for Kimbo’s placement.

Regardless of how you want to see it, Kimbo Slice is not the worst fighter in the UFC. It can’t really be denied that Kimbo is worthy of being on an UFN or UFC PPV card, either. If they kept Kimbo on the undercard, that would essentially be throwing money away; For the most known and followed fighter you have, it simply doesn’t make sense. That’s not why they promoted the hell out of Kimbo during TUF, and no one should be surprised that he is most likely going to bring exposure to the UFC for a while. If anything, Kimbo will immensely help the UFC’s image by bringing in casual fans to see what people are capable of in the highest level of mixed martial arts, and expand the MMA fan base. I can’t imagine many people, aside from those who choose to be angry about it, looking down on the UFC for featuring Kimbo on their cards, because it is simply a stupid thing to judge an organization over. The UFC is promoting Kimbo Slice perfectly. Win or lose, he is going to help the organization well more than he’ll hurt it. It will probably boost the other fighters on the card as well, by bringing them publicity, the same way he has already done for Jon Jones and the castmates of TUF 10.